5 Things / Something Real
A Note from Bernadette
I'll be taking some time off this summer so 5 Things will be a little sporadic.
I'm looking forward to surf lessons, bike riding, hikes, visits to the Obama Center, abundant pickleball, teaching my son to drive...and I'm committed to meaningful conversation everywhere I go.
In season 2, episode 3 of the Netflix series, The Four Seasons, the character Jack, a Gen X straight man, has made a new friend on the beach. His friends privately mock their conversation by acting all “bro,” while the two men were actually talking about loss.
It can be easy to stay shallow. Have you had a day where you talked all day and said nothing real? Or spent all that time with someone who never once asked how you were doing?
This summer, I'm committed to evermore conversations where we say something real. How about you...are you willing to be the one who asks first?
I'm cheering you on—
Bernadette
This Week's Good Vibes
Jersey Says Yes To Trans Care
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill is expected to sign into law a bill protecting healthcare providers who deliver reproductive and transgender care, shielding them from out-of-state investigations. As other states criminalize gender-affirming and reproductive care, shield laws function as legal infrastructure protecting both patients and the clinicians who serve them, no matter where a patient lives. New Jersey joins about 20 states with similar laws.
♐️ Real protection is legal infrastructure.
Irish Dancers Stand With Trans Athletes
When Florida's Attorney General threatened legal action against Irish dance's global governing bodies unless they banned transgender competitors, the Irish dancing community pushed back. In a great act of allyship, the organizing bodies maintained their inclusive policies, standing by a community-affirmed precedent and petition built with teacher endorsement and current science.
♐️ The next time someone questions your organization's inclusion policy, ask what evidence shaped it before you consider changing it.
Getty Ditches Rural Stereotypes
Land O'Lakes and Getty Images launched Repicturing Rural, a free playbook and visual library aimed at helping media outlets, brands, and agencies move past clichéd depictions of rural America. Getty's VisualGPS research found two out of three people in rural communities feel advertisers don't understand them, even as demand for rural imagery rose 22 percent in 2024. The library was developed alongside the Modern Rural Collective.
♐️ Good representation starts with asking a community how it sees itself, not assuming you already know.
First Pride Behind Bars, Ever
Jayda DaShay Jett Hester, a trans woman incarcerated at Kentucky's Lee Adjustment Center, organized what's believed to be the first Pride festival in the facility's history. Starting with four people at a support group meeting, Hester grew attendance to 65 within six months, then planned a full Pride event featuring a history teach-in, music, and poetry. Nearly 90 incarcerated people and 14 staff members attended.
♐️ LGBTQIA+ people are overrepresented in the carceral system, and moments of joy and visibility inside prison walls are rare and hard won.
Marvel Heroes Get Disability Pride
Marvel Comics is releasing special backup stories across four July issues, including Amazing Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men, spotlighting six heroes with disabilities to mark Disability Pride Month. The stories feature Daredevil (blind), Misty Knight (amputee), Echo (deaf), Hawkeye (hearing loss), Silhouette (paraplegic), and Finesse, who navigates social situations differently.
♐️ Representation in mainstream superhero media shapes how millions of readers, including disabled kids, see themselves reflected as capable and heroic.
Good Vibes to Go & Updates
Listen to Amy Poehler's podcast Good Hang. It's full of conversations that actually say something real, exactly the kind I'm chasing this summer.